We spent eight years together. There are reminders everywhere. Things I still have, restaurants we liked, places where special moments happened, the neighborhood we lived in and even the streets we drove together all remind me of you; always will. C.S.
Forgetting isn’t enough.
You can paddle away
from the memories
and think they are gone.
But they will keep floating back,
and again and again.
They circle you, like sharks.
Sara Zarr
Romance has little reverence for age difference, but the mind does. While hearts may become parallel, differences of life experience can create a chasm. Fifteen years seemed small at first, but became insurmountable and broke us apart. J.B.
Whoever, in middle age,
attempts to realize
the wishes and hopes
of his early youth,
invariably deceives himself.
Each ten years of a man’s life
has its own fortunes,
its own hopes,
its own desires.
Goethe
On again; then off again. You want me; then you don’t. You say you can’t live without me and go make a life with someone else. Up and down like a yoyo, but, guess what! I’m not going to let you do from now on. I don’t believe in you anymore. Go away. Leave me alone. S.J.
I don’t miss him,
I miss who
I thought he was.
Unknown
Letting you go was probably the hardest thing I have ever done, but also the most courageous. Just because I wanted you did not make you want me in the same way. Realizing that you could be happier with someone else was very hard, but the right thing. K.P.
Falling in love is easy,
letting that love go, is hard.
But your heart will always
have the right answer.
You just have to listen to it
and figure out what it’s telling you.
Marie Coulson
Oh, how hard I’ve tried to forget you! Your letters were burned in the fireplace. All our photos went up in smoke like the cards, notes and everything I’d saved. It didn’t help. You’re no more out of my heart now than when I burned it all; now just another regret. O.Y.
Sometimes
the hardest part
isn’t letting go
but rather
learning to start over.
Nicole Sobon
The thunder and lightning you came into my life with was exciting. In time it became obvious you were mentally ill. I tried to help and loved you through it all. In the end it didn’t matter. You shredded me, drove me away to another, then blamed me for it. S.B.
I wish I could find the words
To tell you how I feel.
There is so much I want to say
But I don’t know where to start.
There is a thousand questions
That I’d like to ask
But I fear
The answers might not be
What I want to hear.
So I stay quiet
Like there’s nothing on my mind
But the less I open up
The more I find myself confused.
It leaves me lost and lonely.
I think I’m being used.
There is a lot I need to know
To help me understand
To find the truth.
The hardest task
Is how to learn, how to ask.
M.E.
I still find physical traces of you: a music tape you sent me mixed in with others, photos on a hard drive saved from an old computer, a big Valentines Day card packed away at the bottom of a stereo box. It’s been over 20 years and you’re still very much with me. M.E.
Faded photograph
Covered now with lines and creases,
Tickets torn in half
Memories in bits and pieces,
Traces of love long ago
That didn’t work out right.
Traces of love.
From the song “Traces” by the Classics IV
Like exercise makes my arms stronger, loving you added strength to my heart. Even though my heart is hurting, the good of having loved you remains. Some days remembering makes life more difficult, but most often my life is better because you were once in it. J.B.
You left behind a broken heart
And happy memories too
But I never wanted memories
I only wanted You.
unknown
Some day when the pain stops I will be a better person for having loved you. All of me and everything I had was given and for a time you gave of yourself equally. Things just fell apart. It’s no one’s fault. Because we lasted only for a time does make “Us” a mistake. C.S.
Our wounds are often the openings
into the best and most beautiful part of us.
David Richo
You swept me off my feet as I’d never known before. Wonderful. Beautiful. Intense. After a few months the love that came so quickly departed even more rapidly. Then came the time of pretending until neither of us could fool the other; the time of the slow letting go. D.G.
Delusion detests focus
and romance provides the veil.
Suzanne Finnamore
Broken Hearts Anonymous 